Thursday, August 1st ....

I’m constantly reminded that we live in Tasmania; after yesterday’s glorious sunshine, today is bleak and damp.  When we were working in the winery at the weekend, the temperature inside the shed was 12 degrees, but it will be much lower today.  Thick shoes, warm jackets and gloves may be the order of the day. 

I’ve just been watching the morning show on ABC and Joe Hockey twisting himself in knots trying to criticise the policy of increasing tax on cigarettes.  The best argument he could come up with that it would increase the cost of living pressure on pensioners.  Sorry, Joe, your argument sounded very hollow, coming from a party which accepts huge donations from tobacco companies, and even the interviewer seemed unable to hide his giggles.

Joe is becoming increasingly querulous as the election comes closer.  He has developed a very unattractive whining tone in his voice and certainly doesn’t come over as the dignified statesman we would like to look after our money.  I can remember him on Sunrise years ago with Kevin Rudd and they both came across as likeable, trustworthy and electable.  How things have changed in the meantime! 

It’s sad that politics has moved into a realm where it’s all about pandering to the lowest common denominator. Our politicians should be providing leadership rather than swinging to the rhythm of polls which simply reflect the trivia of people’s lives.  Polls don’t deal with the big picture.  Where are the visionaries who can rise above the mundane to form a proper blueprint for Australia’s future?  The current parliament has been dominated by the tussle between Kevin and Julia and all the energies of the Opposition has been focused on undermining and denigrating the work of government.  It’s costing us billions to run this soap opera for the media machine and the entertainment of the masses.  Surely, parliament should be more than that.

Wednesday, July 31st ....

It’s Wednesday, the sun is shining and all’s right with the world.  We’re spending today getting the details finalised for the new business: registering the name, getting an ABN and opening a bank account.  Pamela and I will put in a few dollars to give us some working capital; there are some things we need to order like filter papers, new cartons and so on and we’re going to be short of bottles when all the wine is ready. 

Jamie is designing new labels and setting up a website.  I’ve organised for an NBN account.  The fibre is already connected so we’re just waiting for the modem.  We’ve gone for a mid-range package which is 4 times faster than our current ADSL and has free national calls and heaps of download capacity.  Our website will have an e-commerce facility so you can all order our wines on-line and we’ll send them to you in the post.

There’s a Task Schedule on board in the winery.  We have some wine ready for a final filtering and have to get an order for 7 dozen for Ashgrove Cheese ready in the next few days.  Most of what we need is already bottled but Michael wants some cherry. Pamela scratched around in a cupboard and pulled out a demi-john of dark, dark wine.  No label, just a breathtaking aroma.  After a few sips, we decided it was probably cherry.  It’s wonderful and nobody will quibble if it’s, in fact, blueberry.

I have no experience of fruit wines but, if somebody had told me it was a Cabernet, I would have accepted that.  Blueberry is like a Merlot, the Elderflower I had the other night is like a late-picked Riesling without the sticky sweetness.  A whole new world has opened up.

After the weekend filtering we have several demi-johns cluttering up the house.  It was collected from the bottom of the vats and is perfectly good wine but not crystal clear.  Pamela says it will make great mulled wine or work well in marinades.  Maybe we could market marinades or wine vinegar!

 

Sunday, July 28th ....

Yesterday was the big day: our first lesson in running a winery.  Jamie and I were up early, eager to get started but there was no sign of Pamela.  By 10.30, I was becoming anxious so I rang her ... she would be there soon!  So, it was 11.30 before we got underway.

Of course, we had no fruit so our task was to work on the wine which had already been made.  There are vats of Cherry, Raspberry, Blueberry and Blackberry which had been made in early 2012 but they were sitting happily so we planned first to filter some Strawberry wine, made in the past eight months which is best bottled fresh.  Each batch needs three filterings before bottling.

The big thing is hygiene so we spent some time cleaning and sterilising the stainless steel vats to transfer the wine after it was filtered.  Pamela had expected her ex-partner, Geoff, to be there to help us but he hadn’t turned up, so she rang him ... he would be there in 45 minutes.  It was almost 2 o’clock when he arrived so we agreed we should have lunch first.  You can imagine how twitchy I’m getting by this stage.  We hadn’t even opened up the vat!

However, at last the first vat was cracked - 200 litres of Strawberry wine made from 109 Kg of frozen berries in December 2012.  The aroma was overpowering.  It took about 15 minutes to run it through the filter machine into a clean vat.  It will need one more filtering in a couple of weeks before it is bottled.  Surprisingly, it is bone-dry and we will add a little fructose as the final process.  This will bring out the flavour.

The second batch was 400 litres made in March this year from 208 Kg of fresh strawberries which Pamela’s supplier didn’t know what to do with at the height of the season.  Apparently, we’ll get inundated with fruit during the summer as the growers have surpluses.  We’ve got to be ready to make wine in a hurry as the fruit rolls in. 

It was close to 6 before we finished and cleaned up.  It’s not a difficult job and can be done with one person but Pamela is small and it’s beyond her.

Today, we’re giving the final two filterings to some Raspberry which we can bottle over the next few days.  Normally, there would be two weeks between filtering but this wine is particularly clear so we can filter twice on the same day.  Most of this will be sold as cleanskins to the Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm and they’ll attach their own labels.  A lot of the Strawberry will go to The Berry Patch in Turners Beach under a similar arrangement. 

We’re also having a stall at the Craft Fair where the big money will come from selling Pink Ladies – little bit of wine, ice cubes, filled up with lemonade, $4.  Pamela and Jamie will have to run this as Marilyn and I will be too busy.  BTW, it’s now 11 o’clock and Pamela hasn’t arrived yet so Jamie is going to start getting organised.  I’m sure we can do it on our own if we have to.

Friday, 26th July ....

Marilyn and I have embarked on a new adventure.  We’ve acquired an interest in Deloraine Fruit Wines, a wine maker here in Deloraine and will be learning the skills of making and marketing specialty wines.  The business has been operating for a number of years and has good local markets but needs an injection of enthusiasm and energy to expand.

The company makes a range of fruit wines: raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, apricot and plum, among others.  The fruit is all sourced locally and the wine is made without additives or preservatives.    There are over 2000 litres of wine in the vats, almost ready for bottling, and we’re keen to get that lot out of the way so we can start a new batch.  Clearly, most of the fruit becomes available in the summer, but we’re looking at other options, like cider, boutique beer and even grape wine.

The winery is a large shed, with very good equipment.  Rainwater is collected from the roof, filtered and used in the production.  There’s a two-bedroom unit on the block which Marilyn and I will use. The name of the company will be changed to Tasmanian Specialty Wines to reflect the new management.

It’s a niche product so we don’t expect to make a million dollars but it will be fun.  It doesn’t need constant attention so we’ll be able to continue our travel and it might even be able to fund an occasional cruise.  Work starts this weekend to finish off the existing wine and we can’t wait.

Sunday, July 21st ....

Last night we took part in one of North-West Tasmania’s iconic events: the Wynyard Music Hall.  It’s been going for 42 years and has at least five performances with sell-out audiences every night.  After our experience last night, we’re not surprised.  It was fantastic!

It’s a long drive but we went with a group, had dinner on the way and had been promised a light supper to nourish us for the trip home.  It’s run by the local Rotary Club so I was surprised with how rude the jokes were.  Even though most of the performers were on the shady side of 60, the humour was on the edge.  Nonetheless, we were all hysterical with laughter.  One of the highlights for me was a song from Spamalot (written by Eric Idle).

Once in every show
There comes a song like this
It starts off soft and low
And ends up with a kiss
Oh where is the song that goes like this

Brilliant!

Supper was served at interval.  With visions of traditional country suppers: scones, pikelets, cream cakes, home-made sausage rolls, in our minds we waited with anticipation.  We were truly thankful for what we received but all it was was a pair of triangular sandwiches in a clear plastic box and a slice of fruitcake in a paper bag chucked in front of everybody.  No tea, no coffee, drinks at the bar if you want.

At the end, they trotted out one old gentleman and announced he had been in the show for forty years, and he looked it.  A great night with a supper to remember.

I'm just watching a doctor being interviewed on the ABC and being asked whether Medicare should be means-tested. Her answer was a doozie: 'I think it's a bit of the camel's nose under the tent.' Wow! Sounds great, but what does it mean?

It reminds me of the old routine, Rinse the Blood Off My Toga, when the characters, supposedly, heard phrases like 'Rome Wasn't Built in a Day' and 'All Roads Lead to Rome' for the first time. I can still quote great chunks of the script: Mrs Caesar saying, "I told him, Julie don't go. It's the Ides of March already' and the brilliant exchange with the bartender.

Bartender: What would you like to drink?
Customer: I'll have a martinus.
Bartender: Don't you mean martini?
Customer: If I want two, I'll ask for them.

Yesterday was the meeting of PROBUS where we were confirmed as members. It was a Christmas in July do and all the old-timers had a great time. One fellow brought along his accordion and another played the spoons so it was great fun. We think of ourselves as so modern and yet the old pleasures still make us smile.

The past couple of weeks have been very humdrum; we're locked into routine and are lacking excitement. It was this time last year that Marilyn was complaining about her winter blues and we had to book on a Pacific cruise to get a little hit of sun. This year, we have the same complaint but, luckily, we have an invitation to Madeleine's 18th birthday which will be held on the Gold Coast. We have a week booked at the Tiki Resort at Surfers Paradise and that should give a good dose of Vitamin D after the chills of Tasmania.

Since we retired, I've always had planning for a trip to keep me amused, but that's not the case at the moment. Apart from the birthday bash in September, we also have a cruise in March to celebrate our friend Robyn's birthday (she's considerably older than Madeleine!). Although these will both be fun, I need something with a bit more meat which will drive me to the Internet to puzzle out the options.

The big news from Tassie at the moment is the extraordinary show of the Aurora Australis which appears night after night. We haven't seen it from here (probably because we're not up at 2.30 in the morning!) but the images from southern Tasmania and Antarctica are mind-blowing.

I stumbled across a website (urlmetrics) which informs me that my blog is ranked 11593389 in the United States and worth an estimated $756.49. Anybody want to make an offer? I read this information with mixed feelings: yes, more than 11.5 million websites are ranked higher than mine but I did beat jandmfasteners.com which ranked 11593392 and was only worth $616.49.

I'm a bit glum today because I have a recurrence of the shingles attack which I suffered at Easter. Apparently, it's unusual to have another attack so soon but I've never been average. This weekend, Marilyn and I should be in Wollongong for our latest Nepal reunion but we are just too busy in Tasmania at the moment and couldn't get away. Perhaps it's just as well; I wouldn't be very good company with itchy and sore shingles driving me mad.